Free spay or neuter for cats during summer months

Best Friends has been providing low-cost spay and neuter services to Utah for decades in an effort to quell the number of animals entering the shelter system. During the summer months, one of the biggest challenges is the seasonal kitten population explosion. That’s why the Best Friends Spay and Neuter Clinic in Orem, Utah, offers free spay and free neuter services for cats during the months of July and August, a promotion that will help many felines and their families.

The free program is part of Best Friends Animal Society’s ongoing push to take Utah no-kill through the No-Kill Utah (NKUT) initiative, which brings individuals, city shelters and a coalition of animal welfare organizations together to end the killing of dogs and cats in Utah shelters by the year 2019.

Free spay neuter for cats during summer

“We want to give cat guardians and community cat caregivers the means to get their animals spayed or neutered as quickly as possible,” says Ashley Farmer, Best Friends spay/neuter services manager. “Offering free services for cats during the summer just makes sense because there’s a disproportionate number of cats in Utah’s shelters. We want to turn that tide.”

Ashley further explains that the high number of cats being born and entering shelters is often a symptom of people not having enough information. Many folks don’t realize that cats can get pregnant again soon after giving birth or as early as four months old.

Best Friends Spay and Neuter Clinic in Orem, Utah

The Best Friends Spay and Neuter Clinic is also a valuable resource for NKUT Coalition members. For example, Roosevelt Animal Shelter had approximately 400 of its animals spayed or neutered at the clinic this year alone. All of the shelter’s pets are brought in for surgeries prior to adoption.

“We work hard to ensure every animal finds a home and part of our ability to be no-kill is having fewer animals enter the shelter,” says Melisa Stevenson, shelter manager. “While we have used spay/neuter vouchers in the past, you can’t be 100 percent sure people will redeem them.”

Low-cost vaccinations and spay/neuter services for cats and dogs

The clinic also offers year-round, low-cost vaccines and spay/neuter for dogs, as well as free spay/neuter for community (free-roaming or feral) cats. There’s even a cat family plan, in which a mother cat and her entire litter can be spayed or neutered for $25.

“We want people not to just think about spay and neuter during kitten season,” says Ashley. “We want to help folks get their pets spayed or neutered as soon as possible.”

Easy, low-cost or free spay/neuter helps reduce the number of “oops” litters and therefore helps reduce the number of pets dying in shelters. The Best Friends clinic in Orem has provided more than 4,400 surgeries so far this year, while contributing to the achievement of a statewide save rate of 90 percent through the first quarter of 2014, pushing us ever closer to becoming a no-kill Utah.

Get involved to help pets in need

Learn more about how Best Friends is helping pets across the state of Utah.

Learn more about spay and neuter resources in your area.

Photos courtesy of Roosevelt Animal Shelter  and by Melisa Stevenson